Wayne Law welcomes new director of Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic

Sabrina Balgamwalla has joined the faculty of Wayne State University Law School as an assistant (clinical) professor and director of the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic.

The clinic’s former director, Associate Professor Rachel Settlage, was recently promoted to director of Clinical Education.

“We are thrilled to have Sabrina on board as director of the Asylum and Immigration Law Clinic,” said Interim Dean Lance Gable. “Her background in immigration law and experience supervising the Immigrant Rights section of the law clinic at the University of North Dakota School of Law make her a unique asset to our clinical education program.”

Balgamwalla’s scholarly research examines intersections of gender, race, and citizenship in immigration and labor policy and enforcement.

Most recently, Balgamwalla taught at the University of North Dakota School of Law and supervised the Immigrant Rights section of the law clinic. Previously, she served as a fellow with the University of Baltimore School of Law Immigrant Rights Clinic. Prior to entering academia, she was a nonprofit immigration and domestic violence attorney in Washington, D.C.

Balgamwalla’s international experience includes a Fulbright grant to Jordan, where she studied gender mainstreaming practices in labor programs. In summer 2014, she travelled to Mindanao as a legal expert with the International Senior Lawyers Project and the U.S. Embassy in the Philippines to advise developing legal aid programs based at law schools in the region.

Balgamwalla earned her law degree from American University Washington College of Law and her bachelor’s degree from Bryn Mawr College.

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